The present invention relates to an airbag device installed in an instrument panel of a vehicle at a middle portion of the instrument panel with respect to the lateral direction of the vehicle and including an airbag deployed and inflated when supplied with gas.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2015-157602 describes a known device that protects vehicle occupants during a frontal vehicle collision. A driver-side airbag is deployed and inflated in front of the driver seat to cover the upper side of the steering wheel. A passenger-side airbag is deployed and inflated in front of the passenger seat toward the rear from the instrument panel. A center airbag is deployed and inflated between the driver-side airbag and the passenger-side airbag to protect the vehicle occupants during an angled frontal vehicle collision.
In the device described in the above patent publication, the center airbag is located between the passenger-side airbag and the driver-side airbag. This restricts movement of the center airbag in the lateral direction of the vehicle. Further, the center airbag protects a vehicle occupant forced toward the middle of the instrument panel with respect to the lateral direction of the instrument panel.
The center airbag of the device described in the above patent publication is located between the driver-side airbag and the passenger-side airbag. Thus, the center airbag has a large volume. However, the middle of the instrument panel is where many devices are located, such as the air conditioning device and the navigation device. This makes it difficult to make room for the large-volume airbag.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a center airbag that stably protects a vehicle occupant who is forced toward the middle of the instrument panel with respect to the lateral direction of a vehicle.